Conspiracy Theorists

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CONSPIRACY THEORISTS - PAGE 2

Remember when the Knicks, against tall odds, emerged from the envelope to get the No. 1 pick in the 1985 draft, which meant they won the Patrick Ewing Sweepstakes? The fix was in, conspiracy theorists cried. The NBA had a vested interest in the success of the franchise in its biggest market, the reasoning went, and would stop at nothing to advance the New York cause. Well, so much for that. Because after the beating the Knicks have taken the last two years, nobody can ever accuse the league of showing their home-town team any favoritism.

HI-LO TO HOLLYWOOD: A MAX EVANS READER. Read by William Windom, William Sanderson, Karesa McElheny and David Ackroyd. Dove Audio. 6 hours, unabridged, $25. This collection of short stories, a novella and a magazine article underlines just how tapes can provide a painless introduction to a writer whose work you "just never got around to reading." Evans, the gray eminence of modern western writers, commits literary alchemy by weaving fables and parables of man trying to preserve his integrity and discovering his inner self while struggling with and looking for clues in nature.

It took seven years for the U.S. military to fall from the top of the wall. Yet now, with New Year's resolve, Bill Clinton has whipped out $100 billion worth of super glue to put our olive-drab Humpty Dumpty back together again. The $100 billion is the largest no-war increase in defense spending in our history -- a lot of dough when there are no Nazis, Soviets or other serious bad guys in sight. In 1992, when Clinton reported for duty, George Bush turned over the keys of a well-tuned fighting machine.

After 50 years, they don't give up. They will never give up. It has become a cottage industry of movies, books, lectures, you name it. And still, after half a century, the John Kennedy conspiracy theorists have proved absolutely nothing. Like Crash Davis said in his famous tirade in “Bull Durham,” I believe Oswald acted alone. Good enough for Crash Davis, good enough for me. And yet the conspiracy theorists never give up. And they continue to make money.

I understand that, to a certain degree, all this partisan bickering concerning the state of Florida's electoral votes is an unfortunate consequence of our system. However, after reading the recent comments vilifying Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, I felt compelled to write. I do not envy for one second the position our governor was in. The latest liberal spin was centered around allegations that minorities in strongly Democratic areas were deprived of their right to vote, and that "Jeb Bush and his cohorts did their best to effect this end."

On June 8, 1967, during the Six Day War, Israeli forces attacked the USS Liberty in international waters a few miles off Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. The U.S. conducted several official investigations and concluded there was no evidence Israel knew the Liberty was an American warship. However, conspiracy theories abound and the issue continues to attract anti-Israel propagandists. A closer look at the real story offers important lessons. In January 1967, terrorists crossed the Syrian border into northern Israel, prompting Israeli retaliation.

The outburst of Barney-hating by computer addicts on the Internet appears to be a far more serious matter than I had thought. It was a mistake to assume that the campaign to destroy Barney the Dinosaur was merely the ravings of a bunch of overage, high-tech bed-wetters who ride their modems into cyberspace to shriek obscenities without mommy or daddy spanking them. An Internet jockey named Jamie (few are named Joe or Al) monitors the Barney-haters closely, and he has passed along what he says is the real reason for their campaign to kill the big, cheerful dinosaur that is loved by millions of little children.

It was appalling to read a letter from a reader demanding proof of Osama bin Laden's death! Conspiracy theorists obviously want a new conspiracy to press their unrelenting attack on the president. If bin Laden's corpse was dropped on the doorstep of one of these folks, they would step over it in search of a new conspiracy. How about believing the Navy SEALs and the many other members of the military who participated in the mission, if the writer refuses to believe the president?

Be careful out there. There are some strange people running around. Don't dare ask them what really happened on Sept. 11, 2001. You'll regret it. About 500 conspiracy theorists, led by "Scholars for 9-11 Truth," recently met in Chicago. They talked about how the U.S. government destroyed the World Trade Center "by controlled demolitions" from within the buildings. They say the government did this "to facilitate its political agenda." Who has an agenda? These lunatics are doing a grave disservice to all Americans.